Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1887-08-10
THE STURGEON.
Hcw Great Fish Is Caught on the
New Jersey Coast.

y correspondent furnishes the fol-
sowing: There is at least 100000 In
vested in the sturgeon fishing interest
In the New Jersey end OF the line, with
| headquarters at Bay Side, Cumberland
| county. The sturgeon grows rapidly,
and a fish OF six years old weighs 800
pounds. A big sturgeon yields from
four To SIX u aDkee buckets OF roe like
unto shad roe, with larger eggs, which
are first rubbed through a coarse sieve,
then salted and rubbed through a finer
seive till the fibre is disengaged from
the egg, and the remainder, after
draining, Is emptied into kegs and be-
| comes what Shakespeare calls "caviare
70 the general" 1t Is then shipped via
New Y Iork to Europe, where the sup
ply Is not equal to the demand. The
| modus operandi with sturgeon is to
| cut of his tail and let him bleed, the
large artery running through the tail.
The roe Is then taken G@t of the live
hsh- y broadaXe is then used TO de-
| capitatc the fish. then the skin Is taken
| of, the backbone or cartilage Is then
taken out with a sharp knife and leaves
two sturgeon sides boneless. The fish
| Is thoroughly wiped out with a coarse
whalebone broom. then the flesh is put
| into an Ice-box and is shipped to New
| York. where 1t readily sells as good
Albany beef" If the market is
glutted the sturgeon meat Is kept till
| Fall in the ice house at a temperature
/ OF degrees below zero, and is then
| found good eating. The head, tail and
backbone furnish the fImous sturgeon
| oil.
The sturgeon has no weapons of de-
| Tense against the shark and flies from
this lawyer OF the sea. L found two
sturgeon in the haul made by moon
| light with the entire nose bitten off 10y
l shark. y net entirely dry weighs SOC
pounds, the cotton laid twine alone
We Ching 300 pounds. costing 20 cents
a pound. The meshes of the net are
frem thirteen to hfteen inches wide,
and a siXteen-foot board twelve inches
wide can be shot through the net, SO
no shad or small fish are ever caught in
q sturgeon net. y sixty-pound rock is
sometimes found in the sturgeon gill
net The net is l 32S feet long, seven
feet under water. with no lead or other
sinker, the weight of the twine holding
the net down. The iloat, or cork, re-
mains on top of the water fast to the
lanyard. which is fast to the doat. At
each drift say two hours before low
water. from one to ten sturgeon is the
usual catch. and the cork indicates
when a big fish gets his gills entangled
in the meshes OF the net. The fish
yields easily 10 fate and shows no
game.
The water at Tampa Is transparent,
and a spear is used TO Kill the fish, but
the fisherman is desperately yexed with
what he calls "foul fish," the sawiish
and devil1sh. The latter, weighing
l6OO pounds, frequently tear Iet tC
faiecss and tha sight OF Q. s.~vasta drives
the fishermen TO shore. Frequently q
| 400 pound green turtle Is bagged-wIth
no market for turtle.
The sturgeon feeds down on the bot
tom on the crustacea, and can be seen
roofing like a hog on the bottom. The
| sayants or scientists have never dis
covered where the sturgeon spawns,
and IL may be IN the Black sea or in
Delaware lay, where the huge she
sturgeon has been seen TO shed heI
spawn on the surface of the bay OIL
river in the months OF April and May.
Al Bay Side, as soon as the fish finds
himself entangled in the fourteen-incll
meshes of the net, he founders to the
surface, and the stalwart piscator, wit.
an iron hook. strikes the fish on the
head and hauls the lighting sturgeon
INTO the boat. The fish strikes hard
with his tall when landed in the